Provost Patrick, Silverstein Rebecca A, Dishart David, Walfridsson Julian, Djupedal Ingela, Kniola Barbara, Wright Anthony, Samuelsson Bengt, Radmark Olof, Ekwall Karl
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Division of Physiological Chemistry II, Karolinska Institute, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden Europe.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Dec 24;99(26):16648-53. doi: 10.1073/pnas.212633199. Epub 2002 Dec 13.
RNA interference is a form of gene silencing in which the nuclease Dicer cleaves double-stranded RNA into small interfering RNAs. Here we report a role for Dicer in chromosome segregation of fission yeast. Deletion of the Dicer (dcr1+) gene caused slow growth, sensitivity to thiabendazole, lagging chromosomes during anaphase, and abrogated silencing of centromeric repeats. As Dicer in other species, Dcr1p degraded double-stranded RNA into approximately 23 nucleotide fragments in vitro, and dcr1Delta cells were partially rescued by expression of human Dicer, indicating evolutionarily conserved functions. Expression profiling demonstrated that dcr1+ was required for silencing of two genes containing a conserved motif.